Is there a definitive, comprehensive Motown box set?

Well, there's the Hitsville USA set from the early nineties.

Nope.

that may be the ticket... im also thinking about getting at least the first 3 cds of the complete sun singles. or the 12 cd carter family box set. or the stax volt box set. choices choices choices.

Get 'em all. Especially the Sun Singles things - they're great, full of nice little surprises. You'll probably want that Jimmie Rodgers The Singing Brakeman set too.

Motown really needs to do a couple of those Stax type boxes of their own. I don't know why they haven't; I think people would buy them.

i only have 150 dollars to spend. of course id love to have all those. the "complete" hank williams box is also a possibility. how does one get a job at Bear Family? id probably have to learn german...

haha yeah. It's a pipe dream of mine to have all of their stuff. I actually only have the carter, rodgers and three of the Sun things. Oh, and the Willie Nelson early Nashville set. But yeah, they are the cream of the crop in every way ... just damn expensive.

Hmmm ... $150 huh? I'd probably get the Stax/Volt thing first, honestly. It's just so damn good. But that would still leave you 50 or 60 bucks. There's a guy on eBay who sells the Bear Family sets cheap. He must have some kind of connection to them, because he's been doing it for at least 4 years:

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&include=0&userid=cdwolf&sort=3&rows=25&since=-1&rd=1

He sells the 4 cd sets for $69.

cool! by the way, what are your thoughts on JSP? my friends gotten stuff from them but the presentation seems pretty cheap to me. the contents good enough though, i think. i dont know why anyone would want 4 cds of blind willie mctell though, haha. i keep them all on my ipod just for kicks.
have you listened to any of that german stuff that bear family have? i think it'd be interesting to have an encyclopedic knowledge of german pop music. the only thing i know really is all the krautrock and the comedian harmonists.

Bear Family boxed sets are often really tiresome. Way way way too many repeated takes, minor tracks, complete throwaways, etc. But there is something cute and VERY German about how anal-retentive they are.

it's just a different approach to documentation. For every alternate take, they are usually rescuing some impossible-to-find master. ANd like, that Jimmie Rodgers set, it's only 6 CDs and it's everything the guy did. I can whip through that in a couple days. And it's some of the most historic music of the 20th century, so a couple alternate takes doesn't really bother me (there aren't many on that set). It's just a different way of taking in an artist's work, becoming totally immersed in it. Teasing out their working processes, etc. It's not for everyone, sure, but I'm glad they are there. They're doing a great service for people who are interested in doing research as well as people who are big fans of the artists.

ANyway, yeah the JSP stuff looks like a real bargain but I haven't picked up any yet. Obviously if you're just interested in the music that's totally the way to go. I really like the books that come with the Bear Family stuff though. The Willie Nelson one is like a 75 page 12" X 12" hardcover book! Full of pictures and essays and record cover repros and so forth. It's definitely a labor of love. There are a couple JSP sets on my wish list though - like the Joe Venuti / Eddie Lang set they have. I'd rather buy theirs than the Mosaic one; there is a label that doesn't really justify the price tag.

I'm not familiar with any of the Bear Family stuff other than the country music things, though.

The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 1 (of 12)
http://www.hip-oselect.com/catalogue_motownsingles1.asp

"Hitsville UK" should be enough unless you dislike mono. There was also a sequel for the 70s and 80s that may be a good supplement for those who like 70s and 80s Motown.